Not bad.

Deload week. As I’m doing something different for my squats, I figured to stay in the flavor here. Stay light, keep the added warmups, work up to a single at what should be more or less EDM for this cycle.

All went pretty well. I videoed most of the sets and was very happy at hitting depth on everything. But I noticed a big problem, which you can see in the top set:

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Squat. Top set 330×1. Deload week. . Bar x 10, 135×8, 165×5, 190×4, 215×3, 230×3, 265×2, 300×1, 330×1. . Then 10 minutes stationary bike. That’s all. Deload week. . Videoed most sets. I lose upper back tightness in the hole, so it rounds and things come forward. 🤔 Watch my bar path. 😖 . . . #gym #squat #deload #ignitefitnez #liftlocal #wendler531 #531

A post shared by John Daub (@hsoisauce) on Sep 24, 2018 at 4:46am PDT

Watch the bar path.

I was noticing my upper back was losing tightness, especially as I got into the hole. My analysis of everything is that I’m very focused on my lower body right now: the stiffness in the knees, managing descent, hitting depth, getting up out of the hole, etc., and while I start with upper tightness, the lack of focus and I lose it. Oh, and I also noticed that working for 360º pressure into the belt does change my torso angle slightly (can’t arch the back as much) so that changes things a bit too.

So I started to change to get under the bar, get tight, but then KEEP it tight… readjust as needed. Unrack, take a moment to steady and retighten anything. Step back, settle, retighten. Basically, focus on remembering that upper back. Started to get it, but you can see it threw things off because thinking too much. Still, it was good to see this. For sure, the loss of tightness is part of the problem because it causes me to fall forward. So yeah, more to work on.

That said, the approach I’m doing with the increased warmups, less volume, more singles, I am enjoying it. My body is happier, things move better, and having just singles helps me put more into it. I realized that when I do > 3 reps, it’s too much for my brain right now. I want to a rep, pour everything into it, and analyze it to figure out what’s broken so I can fix it. When I do too many reps, it’s too much data. Just 1-2 reps is good because I can get just enough data, then apply it, see what affect there is, and so on. I even had the thought that maybe right now would be good to squat 2x/week so I could have more time under the bar to work on technique. Not going to change that up right now tho, but point is, so far so good.

I’ve got more things to work on, and so far happy with how things are coming back.

Anyways, all I did was squat. I was going to do a couple light sets of leg presses, but the leg presses were being taken up by the group classes and personal training, so meh. I just hit the bike for 10 minutes and called it.

5th cycle, leader-2; was 5/3/1-based, now trying to fix my squat

• Squat (superset with band pullaparts)
  • bar x 10
  • 135 x 8
  • 165 x 5
  • 190 x 4
  • 215 x 3
  • 230 x 3
  • 265 x 2
  • 300 x 1
  • 330 x 1

That’s a good way to end the week.

Rep PR of 185×4. I actually had a 5th in me but on rep 2 I felt that weird thing in my neck and opted to not push it. The neck thing is simple: posture issues. Posture is at the heart of a lot of my problems. I know why it happens: day job is unrelenting right now, I’m not unhappy but wearing out — so as the day goes on, slumping over happens. It adds up. I struggle against it, and well… I just have to keep working at it.

Rows I cut back on. As I would row, the elbow pain felt a little more acute so I did some work but dropped it back. The pain isn’t getting any worse, and I’m trying things to help it improve. I’ve been skeptical of flossing, but I’m giving it a shot because why not. I need to remember I have the bands tho and do it 2x/day if I can — it’s just not part of routine yet, not on my radar to do.

But otherwise, felt good today. Looking forward to the deload next week, and what’s ahead.

5/3/1 (5th cycle, leader-2, 5/3/1+PR sets)

• Press
  • bar x 10
  • 80 x 5
  • 100 x 5
  • 115 x 3
  • 145 x 5
  • 165 x 3
  • 185 x 4 (rep PR)
  • 125 x 10
  • 125 x 10
  • 125 x 10
• Bent-over Lateral Raises (superset with press warm-up sets)
  • 25e x 12
  • 25e x 12
  • 25e x 12
  • 25e x 12
• Barbell Rows (superset with press work sets)
  • 185 x 8
  • 185 x 8
  • 185 x 8
• Wide-grip Pulldowns
  • 105 x 10
  • 145 x 12
  • 145 x 11
  • 145 x 8

and then I did some plate pinch grips: 2 10# plates smooth sides out, pinch with fingertips, hold for 20 seconds, switch hands, switch back, switch back, then rest for a minute or so, repeat. Just because.

That was pretty cool.

Great rep PR of 440×7.

What’s great here is that things are going up here across the board, in both reps and weight. Like last cycle’s 5s week topped at 385×9 then this cycle’s 5s week was 395×9. Last cycle’s 3s week was 410×7 and tdhis 420×8. Last cycle’s 1s week 430×6, and then today 440×7.

This is pretty damn cool.

I feel like 500 is completely reachable by the end of the year. In fact, I feel like I could hit 500 deadlift, 300 bench, and 200 press (squat… well, just unfucking that is my goal right now).

One thing I did notice since I’m trying to look for weakness issues, I am feeling slow off the floor. Hrm. Dovetails into my thinking on squats and other stuff. So instead of hip thrusts I opted for RDLs just to see how it would go. I felt it mostly in my lower back, but after 3 sets was like “hrm, is that a bit of glute and hamstring work?” But then the reverse hypers confirmed it… oh man! Driving home was mighty uncomfortable. 🙂 So yeah, I might stick with this for a bit.

Anyways, things are good. Happy day.

5/3/1 (5th cycle, leader-2, 5/3/1+PR sets)

• Deadlift (superset with band pullaparts)
  • 185 x 5
  • 230 x 5
  • 280 x 3
  • 350 x 5
  • 395 x 3
  • 440 x 7 (rep PR)
• RDL
  • 225 x 8
  • 275 x 8
  • 275 x 6
• 1-Leg Reverse Hypers
  • 115 x 20e
  • 115 x 20e
  • 115 x 20e

The PR’s keep coming.

Top set of 260×6. And this is why I’m reconsidering forcing a reset after this cycle (well, next cycle) — if on the 1+ week I’m hitting 6-ish reps — and doing so in bench, deadlift, press (squat is another matter), it’s not really appropriate yet to reset IMHO. I ought to go as long as I can. But what will I do? Probably just take it cycle to cycle. Stay on a reasonable program and just see how it goes, because I wouldn’t expect a LOT more, maybe 1-2 additional cycles, but I ought to take them.

Anyways, today was OK. The PR was welcome, but everything else was just bleah. I had no gas, reps way down. Just nothing. I can guess a few reasons.

Just pushing along.

5/3/1 (5th cycle, leader-2, 5/3/1+PR sets)

• Bench Press
  • bar x 10
  • 110 x 5
  • 140 x 5
  • 165 x 3
  • 205 x 5
  • 235 x 3
  • 260 x 6 (rep PR)
• Bent-over Lateral Raises (superset with bench warm-up sets)
  • 25e x 12
  • 25e x 12
  • 25e x 12
  • 25e x 12
• DB Rows (superset with bench work sets)
  • 95 x 12e
  • 95 x 12e
  • 95 x 12e
• Curl-Grip Pulldowns
  • 90 x 10
  • 120 x 15
  • 120 x 10
  • 120 x 8

That was OK.

Again, I’ve changed up my squat approach to try to fix things. It’s still too early to tell, but so far I’m liking things.

I like the increased warm-up. I feel that gets my body happier, and also is giving me a little more time at lighter weights to ensure technique is where it should be.

I like the fact the top work is singles. That allows me to pour everything into that rep to ensure I do have all technique where it should be.

And I am hitting depth and feeling more confident about it. I really wanted to take video today for assessment, but the gym was rather busy and all the racks taken. There was no way I could get reasonable video and not infringe upon someone else’s space and workout, so no video. Bummed tho, because I am VERY curious to see where I am with things.

Biggest thing I’m doing with technique is not trying to adjust it! Just do what I do! My torso goes over more, and well that’s just how it is because of my body dimensions. Just squat.

But that said, I am trying to analyze any weaknesses — where are things breaking down and failing? That’s why I wanted video today. One small change I did make was re-reading something about bracing. Take in that breath and push into the belt. However, don’t just push forward into the belt — push 360º into the belt. I think that’s a cue from Chad Wesley Smith. Makes a big difference in tightness and stability, and I felt it today. I used this cue long ago but obviously forgot about it. But it is one I want to remember as I do think part of my problem is losing torso/upper-back tightness.

Anyways, I felt alright.

I also am taking the reduced workload as a good thing. My knees weren’t happy the past some weeks, but have been feeling better the past some days. A little more glute emphasis, and a little less work — goes together to help my knee condition. I am struggling to embrace the “do less work to gain more” mentality – I want to do more work! But I think I am going to have to embrace the “how little work can you do to still progress/gain” approach – for the sake of longevity.

For that matter, I also dropped all upper body work today, again for the same reason: reducing workload to help with recovery.

But, I do think one thing that would do me good would be to add a 2-3 sets of calf raises and ab work (e.g. planks – something for stability, to help me reinforce that 360º tension). It’s not big work, shouldn’t tax me much; and I would think should help.

Thinking beyond…

Next week is 7th week deload. I will deload the Wendler way, using the weights I plugged in for this Strong-15 run.

Then the next cycle will be 3/5/1, PR, Joker, but squats will stay solidly on the Strong-15-style approach (no PR, no Joker).

I’ve also been thinking about maybe not resetting after that cycle. I think I’ll see where things lie come that time. If I could progress even one more 3-week cycle, I will. I think it’d do me well to milk this as long as I can, then reset and mini-cut. We shall see.

5th cycle, leader-2; was 5/3/1-based, now trying to fix my squat

• Squat (superset with band pullaparts)
  • bar x 10
  • 135 x 8
  • 165 x 5
  • 190 x 4
  • 225 x 3
  • 250 x 2
  • 290 x 1
  • 300 x 1
  • 310 x 1
• Pause Squats
  • 250 x 3
• 1-Leg Leg Press
  • sled x 15
  • 180 x 15
  • 270 x 15
  • 360 x 15

Going forward and pulling back.

So Press progress continues well. Hit a top set of 175×6 for a rep PR. I wanted 7 but it didn’t happen. Still, that was a reach: on paper was a maybe, but 6 is really in line with things. So, not what I wanted, but I’m OK with it.

But then I’m pulling back some. I forgot that over this 6-week cycle I wanted to continually scale back my supplemental work: first 2 weeks 5 sets, next 2 weeks 4 sets, and final 2 weeks 3 sets. So all this week should have been 3 sets but I did 4 – except for today. I’ll be doing 3 next week.

I’m also trying to trim back arm work. It’s all a desire to reduce irritation of my elbow. It’s going to take a while, but I have to start now. I’ll try to continue to do something, but just nowhere near the volume I was. Ah well. At least it cuts my sessions much shorter so I can get back on the bike for a bit (knees are probably happy about this) and still get home early enough to make morning meetings.

Next week is 1+ week. Then 7th week deload. After that, the cycle I’ve been thinking about. I think I’ll go 3/5/1 (3+/5/1+, strictly speaking). I am also thinking about adding Jokers, but that will probably be minimal, like maybe just 1 set of 1. Again, it’s about keeping inflamation down. Assistance work will be minimal. And I’m thinking that after that cycle, take the light deload week, and then the week after that each day see about establishing a new 1RM. Or maybe during the deload week; have to see how the calendar works out, and even how I feel at the 1+ week then. I think the motivator here are 3 things: I feel like I could set a bench press best, maybe not 300 but close; I feel maybe 80% confident right now I could deadlift 500; and I feel 90% I could press 200. Those would be some cool milestones. But we’ll see. As much as I’d love to hit them, I actually don’t feel in a huge rush.

And then I think beyond this what to do. My current thought:

• reset weights, regardless if I need it or not.
• continue with 5/3/1 approaches
• take basically 5’s PRO approach
• then up things to be more hypertrophy focused – build some muscle
• or rather, try to not lose anything. Because I’ll want to try a 6 week minicut to shed what I can in 6 weeks (10# would be awesome).
• and then keep progressing back up.

Key is that I want to do a 6-week minicut to trim off some flab.

5/3/1 (5th cycle, leader-2, 5/3/1+PR sets)

• Press
  • bar x 10
  • 80 x 5
  • 100 x 5
  • 115 x 3
  • 135 x 3
  • 155 x 3
  • 175 x 6 (rep PR)
  • 120 x 10
  • 120 x 10
  • 120 x 10
• Bent-over Lateral Raises (superset with press warm-up sets)
  • 25e x 12
  • 25e x 12
  • 25e x 12
  • 25e x 12
• Barbell Rows (superset with press work sets)
  • 185 x 10
  • 185 x 10
  • 185 x 9
• Wide-grip Pulldowns
  • 105 x 10
  • 145 x 12
  • 145 x 10
  • 145 x 8
  • 145 x 8
• Stationary Bike
  • 10 min